Tank



Jan. 7, 1947. G. M. BARNES I 2,413,685

TANK

Filed Aug. 15, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet l I Lmmfm I Bluliacm. M-.E n1rne&

ai/M115 G. M. BARNES Jan. 7, 1947.

TANK

Filed Au 15, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 .x A a WWW/04M,

Jan. 7, 1947. M B NS 2,413,685

TANK

Filed A ug. l5, 1944 s Sheets-Sheet s fig- EludennM Eurne.s

Patented Jan. 7, 1947 TANK Gladeon M. Barnes, United States Army, Hastings, Mich.

Application August 15, 1944, Serial No. 549,601

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 O. G. 757) 2 Claims.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to armored vehicles especially adapted for military purposes.

With the development of efiective anti-tank weapons and armor-piercing projectiles the race between armor and projectile has resulted in the creation of ponderous vehicles whose tactical mobility and military efiiciency have been seriously impaired. A study of the employment of tanks in warfare with a consideration of the defenses involved to combat them discloses the need for a tank in which heavy armor plate of great thickness must be provided to afford invulnerability to large calibre and high Velocity cannon while limiting the total weight and the weight of such concomitant elements of the movable gun platform as the power plant, transmission, suspension and tracks.

The provision of a heavily armored tank of restricted weight which will meet these conflicting requirements involves a departure from conventional design and arrangement, and a careful analysis of space considerations. The vehicle of this invention is characterized by a construction in which the hull is made only of sufificient size to inclose and conform to the outline of a compactly arranged power plant and transmission while being only of a length adequate to the mounting of the Suspension. The turret which comprises the upper portion of the tank overlies the engine compartment of the hull and may in part overlie the vehicle tracks. The turret, as well as the hull, is formed of armor plate of maximum or extreme thickness, and may vary in thickness in accordance with its relative position and likelihood of being hit by various types of missiles. The turret is provided with a floor which may have an opening or recess to permit recoil movement of a cannon of large calibre. The turret is so constructed and arranged as to provide room for the crew to operate the tank and armament thereof and forms the fighting compartment of the tank.

Disclosed herein, but forming no part of the present invention, is means for relatively angularly displacing an operators seat with respect to the turret so that the operators seat will face to the front throughout 360 rotation of the turret. Such means is claimed in my copending application Serial Number 440,175, filed April 23, 1942,,forv Tank, now Patent 2,396,073, dated March 5, 1946; and of which the present application is a continuation in part.

It is, therefore, among the objects of this invention to provide an armored automobile vehicle which shall be lighter in weight, more heavily armored, of smaller profile, more compact, speedier and more easily maneuverable than those heretofore employed, to provide such a vehicle with a novel arrangement of gun and crew, to provide such a gun carriage with a hull portion and a turret portion, the automotive components being in the hull portion, the turret portion providing the fighting compartment of the vehicle and including a gun and providing space for the crew, to produce a track-laying armored vehicle having a hull portion between the tracks and a turret portion preferably wider than the hull portion and overlying the engine compartment and tracks.

It isv a further object. to provide in a tank according to this invention a novel positidning of the track and suspension whereby to obtain adequate flotation and dynamic stability of the vehicle as well as good ability to surmount obstacles, cross ditches and the like.

The tank of this invention includes a hull providing essentially an engine compartment housing a compact group of power generating and transmitting equipment including a power plant, a transmission and a fuel tank, traction means carried by said hull, driving connections including said transmission between said power plant and said traction means, a turret. rotatably mounted on said hull over said engine compartment, and a floor for said turret positioned above said engine compartment, said hull and said floor closely confining the equipment in said engine compartment, said turret mounting a gun, having control means therein for operating said tank and providing essentially the fighting compartment of said tank, said hull and said turret com prising armor of extreme thickness.

The traction means according to the invention is carried by the tank hull and includes weight supporting Wheels, forward end wheels, rearward end wheels and an endless track around said wheels, said rearward end wheels being positioned near the rear of the engine compartment, said forward end wheels being positioned somewhat forwardly of said engine compartment and said weight supporting wheels being positioned intermediate said end wheels and constructed and arranged so that the weight of the tank is more or less evenly distributed among the weight supporting wheels and thence along the ground engaging or lower run of the track.

The forward end wheels of the tank may be mounted somewhat forwardly of the engine compartment upon exterior extension members carried by the forward armored wall of the hull or, alternatively, may be carried by a forward extension of the hull itself forming an auxiliary forward driving compartment.

The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will clearly appear in the following detailed description of two embodiments thereof as shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation shown partly in section according to the line i-l of Figure 2 showing the interior of the tank,

Figure 2 is a top plan view below section line 22 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a section taken along the line 33 of Figure l, and

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the hull or body portion of the tank on a reduced scale.

Referring to Figures 1 through 4 of the drawings by characters of reference, there is shown a vehicle having a hull l compactly housing automotive components shown generally as an engine 2, a transmission component 3, and a gasoline tank 4. A track 5 is carried by a wheel system consisting of a rear drive sprocket 6, front and rear pairs of bogie wheels I carried by a shockalosorbing unit 8 attached to the side of the hull l and which also carry small top idler wheels 52 to counteract sag in the upper portion of the track. Front idler wheels it) are carried on a shaft ll mounted forward of the hull l by means of truss members I2.

The hull is of generally rectangular shape in transverse section and comprises a front portion A of reduced width and a rear portion B which determines the spacing of the tracks and the width of the vehicle. The front portion A terminates abruptly in a fiat vertical face i4 located somewhat rearwardly of the front idler wheel I t. The rear, wider portion B has a downwardly sloping upper face 16, and, forwardly thereof and extending to the vicinity of the front, narrow portion A, a circular opening is provided in the upper edge of the hull to receive the revolving turret D (see Figure 4) and is of such size as to result in arcuate extensions C in the top edge of the hull and overlying the tracks. A cover IQ for the transmission compartment is seated on a cleat 28 fastened to the inside of the hull.

The rim of the circular opening I5 is rabbeted as at 22 to form the bearing track for the turret D and a horizontal flange 23 on the inner face of the opening I5 is toothed to form an integral ring gear for rotating the turret. The turret D comprises a flat rear face, top and sides, but has a front IS with a rounded section and a sloping vertical profile for deflecting missiles. Likewise, the front I8 of the turret as well as the front face E4 of the hull are made thicker than other faces since hostile fire of the high calibres will, in general, be encountered in frontal attacks, rather than in enfilade, from the rear, or from the air.

An opening is provided in the front face to accommodate a gun 24 which is mounted in the said opening by means of trunnions 25 which provide for elevation only of the gun, traverse being provided by rotation of the turret as a whole.

A floor 26 is attached to the bottom of the turret l8 and fixed to the floor is a seat 21 for the gunner and a stand 28 On which is rotatably seated as by ball bearings 29, a seat 30 for the driver. The drivers seat is designed to face forward with respect to the hull and tracks regardless of the orientation of the turret and this is accomplished by gear mechanism as taught in my above-mentioned patent.

A cupola 52 attached over an opening in the top of the turret receives the drivers head in a minimum of space and is provided with a series of slits 39 to provide for the universal vision necessary on rotation of the turret. A cover 40 is hinged on the cupola as at 4| to permit relaxation for the driver and readier vision when not engaged in actual combat.

The breech appendages of the gun 24, including magazine and recoil mechanism, are shown in general outline at 42. As noted above, space in the tank has been carefully allocated in two main divisions, the hull portion containing the automotive equipment and the turret carrying gun, gunner, driver and driving controls. The gun is of a heavy type, designed to throw projectiles at great ranges and will require relatively high elevation and depression and n appreciable distance for recoil at the breech. The consideration of depressions as Well as others, such as case of serving, low profile at all elevations and low cen ter of gravity require that the gun be slung low on the turret. The turret, as noted above, represents one of the main division of the tank and the line of this division is the floor of the turret which serves to carry the crew and controls. The floor, therefore, bears the same relation to the gun as the ground level would bear to a field gun with respect to problems of elevation and these problems are even further complicated by the limitation on depression imposed by the roof of the turret. The lower limit of the firing height would thus appear to be that at which the breech end of the gun would strike the floor in recoiling.

In the present invention, the gun, while mounted with its trunnion axis adjacent floor 26, may be elevated to the maximum quadrant angle because of opening 43 in the fioor 26 of the turret permitting the breech to recoil beyond the floor" which is, in effect, the plane on which the gun is mounted, so that the gun, while permitted full length of recoil and even depression in a limited space is mounted so much lower on its carriage than has heretofore been practicable that better protection and facility for serving the gun, increased efficiency and stability and reduction in weight of the mount are secured. This clipping of the gun breech into the tank hull proper is also accounted for in the novel concept of turret drive whereby all gearing is carried by the turret and is sufficiently compact to be contained in a small region to one side of the turret. Conventional mechanism for rotating the turret relatively to the body is shown in the form of a reversible motor 52 located at the left and rear of the gunners seat 2? and driving a shaft 53 projecting through floor it. A pinion 54 aifixed to the lower end of shaft 53 meshes with the teeth on flange 23. This motor will be under the control of the gunner through conventional switch mechanism, not shown.

Ammunition 4A is stored in racks on the turret wall and a convenient shelf 46 results from the transition in the turret body from-circula 1 to the profile seen in section in Figure 2.

The driver operates the vehicle-propelling mechanism through controls '41 and other conventional appendages (not shown). A cross cylinder 48 at the trunnions serves as a shield for the gun port and a slot 4% in the cylinder 58 serves as a sightin means. Any conventional sighting means including telescopic devices may be employed at the slot 39 together with appropriate optical systems.

Hinged doors 5!) may be provided in the sides of the turret for regular and emergency ingress and egress. A protective screen of armor 5! is provided over the front suspension means l2.

The hull portion extends from the rear sprocket wheels to about the location of the foremost bogie wheel and the automotive equipment is compactly arranged in the hull, no crew space being included in the hull. The space from the front bogies to the front idlers is not inclosed to form a compartment and the weight of the hull material thus eliminated can be redistributed to increase the hull thickness in critical parts of the tank.

The turret is removable from the hull to provide access to the engine compartment for installing, repairing and replacing the equipment located therein including engine, transmission and gasoline tank.

As specifically shown, the turret floor is afiixed to the turret for rotation therewith, but alternatively, it may be positioned in the same approximate place and non-rotatably supported by the hull.

Longitudinal dynamic stability of the tank, ability to surmount obstacles and to cross ditches is provided by positioning the front and rear end wheels at a level approximately half as high as the top of the hull portion. The rear end wheels are positioned adjacent the rear end of the hull, and the front end wheels are positioned in front of the engine compartment of the tank a distance of from about one-quarter to about,one-half the length of the engine compartment. The sets of bogie wheels are arranged longitudinally of the tank to provide substantially equal weight distribution thereto. The turret is mounted over the engine compartment and approximately centrally with respect thereto and the floor separates the main fighting compartment from the engine be employed as well without departing from the essentials of this invention.

I claim:

1. In a combat tank comprising an enclosed hull having an opening in its top, a turret rotatably mounted on said hull to cover and close said opening, a floor carried by said turret substantially flush with the top of said hull, a ring gear carried by said hull concentric of said opening, mechanism carried by said turret, including a part extending through said floor and engaging said gear, to rotate said turret, a gun having trunnions journaled on the normally forward wall of said turret, with its breech extending into said turret said trunnions being located adjacent said floor, there being an opening in said floor into which the breech of said gun extends when said gun is elevated from substantially zero quadrant elevation.

2. A tank as recited in claim 1, a cylinder of greater diameter than the barrel of said gun and through which said barrel extends diametrically, said trunnions being fixed to and centrally of respective ends of said cylinder, there being a peripheral sighting groove on said cylinder in a plane normal to the axis of said trunnions and oifset from said gun along the axis of said trunnions.

GLADEON M. BARNES. 

